


Cold Oak

by SeeEmRunning



Series: Sam at Hogwarts [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 03:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2295335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeeEmRunning/pseuds/SeeEmRunning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam faces the fallout of decisions made for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> And here we are, at the beginning of SPN canon instead of HP canon!

"Daddy!" 

A little girl barreled into Sam Winchester's legs. Her skin, hair, and eyes were a few shades darker than his - she took after her mother, which was clear to anyone who'd seen a picture of Emily at her age.

"Oh, hey, baby doll," he said affectionately, kneeling down to return his little girl's hug. The purple cotton of Astra's T-shirt bunched in the hand of his one working arm; his right dangled uselessly down to the floor beside them. Astra had the use of both arms, and he hoped he'd never lose one the way he had.

"Excuse me, can I see some ID?" a brunette woman interrupted. She had on a long blue skirt and a white blouse, the uniform of kindergarten teachers everywhere.

"He's my daddy!" Astra said indignantly.

"It's fine," Sam told her, digging for his wallet and praying he had his Muggle card on him. "Better than letting you go off with anyone, right? Here we are." He opened his wallet to show the driver's license he'd faked up and turned it so the woman - Drummond, he thought her name was - could see.

"Sam Winchester. All right, then. Have a good day."

"You too, ma'am," he said, slipping the wallet back into the pockets of his khakis. "C'mon, Astra." He picked her up. "I have a class to teach in twenty minutes."

"Okay, Daddy." She linked her hands around his neck and kissed his cheek.

"So tell me all about your first day of kindergarten," Sam said as they walked out.

"I met this really nice boy named George and a girl named Alex and we played house and doctor and we started the alphabet and I got a star because I already knew it!"

"Good job, baby doll," he said. "Okay, you know what happens now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He ducked into an alley, focused, and turned. He reappeared just outside the Hogwarts gates; his legs buckled under the familiar ringing pain in his injured arm. "You get homework?"

She nodded against his shoulder. She didn't like Apparition any more than he did.

"All right, baby doll. You go ahead and start that in my office, and I'll be back to check on you, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"Good girl."

They made it to the third floor just as the bell rang and students swarmed into the corridors. Sam shunted the kids aside, made it to his office, and got Astra settled into a little desk and chair that fit her. "I'll be back in an hour, baby doll," he said, kissing her forehead and smoothing her dark hair off her forehead.

"Okay. When's Mommy coming?"

"Tomorrow morning, baby doll. She'll drop you off at school again."

He and Emily had had to rework their childcare duties once she'd started going to school. Emily wasn't awake when Astra got out; Sam was in class when she went in. Now she came to Hogwarts once her school was over, and Emily picked her up when her shift was over at six in the morning so they could spend a few hours together before she dropped Astra off at school and she herself went in to work. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best they could get for now.

The first day of classes was always weird. The first-years had to get an idea of who we was and how he taught; he had to learn thirty new names and faces. The upper years were given more detail on how he would be structuring a year's worth of lessons. This year, his combined year would be taking their OWLs, which meant mass confusion and double the class size he normally taught OWL objectives to.

A classroom of Ravenclaws chatting away drew his attention away from his worry about the size. "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to our fifth-year Defense class. You'll be taking your OWLs at the end of this year, so I expect y'all to be the same overachievers you've always been." His Ravenclaws grinned; some of them even laughed. "Hope everyone had a good summer, because we'll be starting up with a practical review. Go ahead and line up on the targets - let's see who can get the highest score."

When they'd finished running reviews, Sam started them on the Patronus Charm. As in years past, the most anyone could get was mist.

"Don't worry, don't worry," he said to their disappointed faces. "It can take months to get the spell down, it's so individualized. Now go on to your next class - what do you have now?"

"Herbology," Olivia Argent said. "Do you know the new professor?"

"Professor Longbottom and I went to school together," Sam said. "He's always been good with plants."

One more class - seventh-years. Sam was going to start them on the obstacle course, so before they reached the classroom, he got Astra from his office. "Come on, baby doll," he said. "Let's go outside for a bit."

"Okay, Daddy," she said happily. "I drew a hippo!"

"Lemme see," he said, taking the paper. "Are they usually blue?"

"I dunno." She put down her crayons.

"Did you do your homework?"

"I'll do it."

Sam sighed. "You need to do it right after school, Astra. Bring it with you - you can work on it outside."

She scowled at him - as much as a child her age could scowl, anyway - but grabbed her backpack. "Everyone," he called when they reentered his classroom. "This is my daughter Astra. Don't scare her too much. We're going outside, come on."

"Obstacle course?" Hera Alder asked.

He smiled at her. "Right in one. You all know where it is by now - get going."

The class left, with Sam at the back, all of them hurrying down the stairs. "Hey Professor!" Gunther Gibbons called. "Why doesn't Peeves ever bother us when we're with you?"

"Because he's afraid of me," Sam answered matter-of-factly. "I can kick him out of this castle and he knows it, so he doesn't mess with me."

"Huh."

This year's crop of students did a little better with the obstacle course than those in years past. Some of them had been running it since its inception in their third year, but most had left it well alone except for one or two halfhearted attempts when Sam had first made it. The ones who had run it obsessively got through in record time, which bumped the class average down, so, it took slightly less time for this year to get through than it had the last few, and there were fewer mistakes.

Once they'd all gotten through individually, Sam split them into their groups of six - only twenty-four seventh-years were taking defense - and sent them through once more. As he himself had been the first time he'd run the course, the students finished bruised and bloody. Sam fixed any injuries worse than a papercut and sent them up to dinner.

"All right, Astra, you finish?" he asked, hunkering down beside her.

"Uh-huh."

"Want me to check?"

"Uh-huh."

Sam smiled and looked. It was a simple alphabet worksheet - 'which starts with A', with an apple, an umbrella, and a lightbulb. She just had to circle the right object. Twenty-six questions, one for each letter of the alphabet, and they were all right.

"Good job, baby doll," he said, offering it to her. "Put it in your backpack, okay? Don't lose it before tomorrow."

"Kay, Daddy."

Sam kissed her forehead. "All right, Astra. Time for dinner."

"Can you do that?" she asked, pointing to the course.

"I can."

"Can I see?"

Sam hesitated for a brief second, but he'd run it so often in the past few years he was pretty sure he could get through without falling. "Sure thing."

Over the hurdles, under the netting, up the next netting, jump the horizontal logs and then the vertical, shuffle along the edge of the monkey bars, up the cliff, to the top of the sheer wall, hook the elbow over the rope and slide to the weaving bars - in and out, then through the tires, over the toothed beams, and across the balance beam.

Astra was clapping by the time he jogged back over to her. "Good job!"

"Thanks, Astra. Now I don't know about you" - he tickled her cheek with the end of one of her braids - "but I'm getting hungry."

"Me too."

"All right then. Let's go eat."

Astra and Sam didn't eat dinner in the Great Hall, but in Sam's office. The first-years now would be seventh-years when Astra started school, and Sam didn't want them with memories of her as a small child. It would be difficult enough for her, as a teacher's daughter; there was no reason to add difficulty in the form of older students remembering her. When Sam's classroom filled up after dinner with its usual potluck assortment of students, Astra would be in his office, coloring and singing to herself until bedtime.

It was less than an hour after students started trickling into his room that his head split open.

_"You have to believe me!"_

_"Fuck this, and fuck you," snapped a black man in army fatigues. "You're crazy. I'm gone."_

_A white man and two white women, both much smaller than he was, looked at Sam. "He's right," the shorter, stockier of the women said. "I mean, demons?"_

_"I believe it," the other woman said unexpectedly. "Too much weird's happened in the last few months."_

_"Like?" the man asked._

_There was a piercing scream, and they ran-_

"Really, Winchester?" a familiar sharp voice asked.

He whimpered and opened his eyes, slitting them against the light that stabbed deep.

"It's been, what, eight years since you've had a vision this bad?" the same voice asked.

"Never - this bad-" he gasped out. "As- Astra-"

"Still in your office," a different voice said.

"Good," he breathed.

"Anyone here?" Pomfrey asked.

"No," Sam gasped. "No one but me - but nobody died, so why did I-"

"Figure it out later," Pomfrey ordered. "Right now, drink this."

His head was lifted, and he tasted a painkilling potion, familiar as the taste of water. Coolness rushed through his veins, and he could open his eyes without wanting to gauge them out.

"That's as bad as the fucking Cruciatus," he mumbled.

"Students, Sam," Pomfrey said mildly.

"Right, sorry." He sat up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay, Professor?" someone asked timidly. He looked over to see Pete Lattimer, a second-year.

"I'm fine," he said reassuringly. "Just a vision. They happen."

"Usually when you're asleep, though," Pomfrey pointed out.

"Yeah." Exhaustion crashed over him. "Speaking of."

"All right, up you get." Pomfrey hauled him to his feet. After all these years, it was still awkward to get up without the use of his right arm, but he barely noticed it anymore. He'd adapted. "The rest of you, clear out. He needs his rest now."


	2. Chapter 2

Though Sam didn't know it, great care was being taken with him. There had been argument after argument in the upper echelons of Hell's ruling caste as Azazel put together his Gauntlet. Training camps, the gossips called them. A full third of Azazel's trusted had been detailed to attempt to kill his Special Children. All of them were ripe for the picking, and nearly all of them were vulnerable.

There was just one kink in the works, and that was the Hunter. Azazel's Chosen. Strong psychic, strong bloodline, strong natural magic. On its own that wouldn't be a problem, but he'd warded his home, his workplace, and his family with the strongest anti-demon symbols he could get his hands on. The problem was getting _their_ hands on _him_ , but the beginnings of a plan were coming together. All they needed was a few months to get the wards worn down enough to strike, and then the Hunter would be ready for Azazel's Gauntlet.  
***  
Astra was half-asleep on his shoulder when he carried her out to Apparate to the house in Rattray. Emily met them in the foyer. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he answered just as softly, leaning down to kiss her. She turned so he got her cheek. "How was work?"

"Long. How was the first day of school?"

"Long," he parroted.

"Mommy?" Astra mumbled sleepily.

"Hey, sunshine," Emily said, smiling and taking Astra from Sam. "How was your first day of kindergarten?"

"Awesome!"

"Good. I'll make breakfast. Sam, you staying?"

Sam shook his head regretfully. "I need to get back and set up the classroom. Surprising my seventh-years today."

"Mm. Have fun."

"You too, Em. Sleep well."

As he'd told Emily, he surprised his seventh-years. They entered the classroom to find it dark - curtains were pulled, candles unlit. Sam waited until he counted twenty-six students in the room to close the door silently and fire a Net Spell at them. Five were entangled in the ropes and fell.

The other twenty-one pulled their wands out, some of them fumbling and dropping them. Sam tossed two more nets that way; one was deflected, the other dodged by all but two.

The nineteen still standing _finally_ got their asses in gear and started firing back blindly. None of them thought to cast a General Counterspell, which was a real shame because Sam had Disillusioned himself. In the dim lighting, he was invisible. Even a Lumos spell would have shown where he was.

But no Lumos, no Finite, and Sam kept moving and wasn’t hit once. It took just ten minutes to Disarm the last of the students.

He waved up the lights. "All right, guys," he said, Vanishing the nets. "You know what to do now."

They hurried toward the blackboard and the chalk to write down what they thought their biggest problems had been. Sam had begun running reviews that way when he figured out that it was more likely to produce the right answers.

Answers ranged from 'not enough light' to 'teamwork' (which had been their go-to answer since Sam's second year as a teacher).

"So," he said when they'd all taken their seats. "Let's go over what went wrong. First off, none of you thought to turn on the lights, or cast a counterspell to the Disillusionment. So yes, light" - Sam circled the word - "would have been a help. If you'd done it right, I would have been temporarily blinded and unable to defend myself, and you could have won easily."

"Sure," Dom DeLouise said sarcastically. "If you were going easy on us."

"Nobody is infallible," Sam said calmly. "It's been several years since I've been in a real battle. My last hunt was before my daughter was born - I want to see her grow up, and I want her to know both her parents. I've gotten incredibly out of practice except for the fights we have in here.

"But my _point_ was that you have to be able to adapt. If there are no lights, make some, or cast a Night-Vision Charm. If you can't see your opponent, make him visible - throw flour or sand on him, if that's all you've got, but you should all remember the Tracking Spell I taught you in your fourth year.

"Fighting is all about being able to turn any situation to your advantage. You have spells that will quite literally create anything you want or need. If you get into any fights after you're out of school, believe me, there are no arbitrary rules on the spells you can use. If someone's throwing lethal spells at you, you throw lethal spells right back.

"So this year, when we have battles, there are no restrictions on the spells you can use. Be careful not to kill each other, but beyond that" - Sam shrugged - "it's all you.

"Another change this year - I've gotten permission from the Ministry to show you the Unforgivable Curses. These are illegal to use against another human being, and having been on the receiving end of two of them, I can certainly understand why.

"Who knows the three Unforgivables? DeLouise?"

"Cruciatus, Imperius, Killing."

"Good, five points. Anyone else know the incantations? Farnsworth?"

"Crucio, Imperio, and - er - abracadabra?"

Sam grinned. "Only if you ask a Muggle," he joked. Farnsworth slumped, and Sam regretted his words instantly. He made a mental note: _Don't tease that one._ "Ten points for the two incantations. Anyone else got the third? Hibiscus?"

The poor girl's name was Sunflower Rosewood Hibiscus. Sam had had a hell of a hard time keeping a straight face when he'd seen her name on the roster, but it had gotten easier with time. Her parents were some sort of live-off-the-land, one-with-nature type. 'Pinko hippies', his father would have called them.

"Avada kedavra," she said.

"Good, five for you. So those are the incantations - what do they do, em, let's go with Underch for this one."

Umberto Underch answered, "Crucio causes unbearable pain. Imperio bends the victim to the caster's will. Avada kedavra kills."

"Five points for that. So those are the Unforgivables, and I have here" - he pulled out a jar - "three spiders. Daddy long-legs, you'll be pleased to know, although I think you call them harvestermen over here. Harmless, but they need to be a little bigger for you to understand. _Engorgio._ " The three spiders grew to the size of his hand, and Sam squashed the revulsion he felt. He levitated one of the spiders out of the jar and onto his desk, then said, " _Imperio._ "

The spells had been difficult to learn; not only were they technically difficult, he also _hated_ the way they felt, oily and slimy underneath his skin. He pushed aside his revulsion and focused on the spider, sending it cartwheeling across the desk.

He levitated it back into the jar and selected another. "Now - I can tell you from experience that the Cruciatus Curse is some of the worst torture imaginable. _Crucio_."

The spider fell over and started twitching. He kept the curse as long as he could stand it and then set the spider back down. "And, finally" - he levitated out the final spider - " _avada kedavra_."

There was a flash of green light and a rush of nausea, and when Sam's vision cleared, the spider was dead.

"These spells are not only forbidden for what they do to others," Sam told them. "Casting them takes a toll. They are the most vile spells to cast, and they take a piece of yourself you never get back. Casting them on spiders takes relatively little, and it's the worst feeling I've ever had. To cast on a sentient being - I can't imagine what that would be like. Now take out your paper, copy this down."  
***  
As it always did, time moved on. The Halloween Curse hadn't struck since his first year as a teacher, nearly a year before Astra had been born, but Sam was always wary. He kept his students inside, reviewed Shield Charms with his younger years, and did twenty minutes of Patronus practice followed by theory for the rest of class with his older years so they wouldn’t be too tired to fight if they were called upon. Those lesson plans were more or less set in stone. The details of the theory might change, but nothing else did.

Astra started learning to write. Emily got a promotion to Chief Healer of the Dai Llewellyn Ward for Dangerous Creature Injuries, which put her back on days. They reworked their time with Astra to account for that; Emily would pick her up from school, and Sam would come back right after classes until dinner at Hogwarts was over two hours later. Astra no longer spent her nights at Hogwarts.

Theo and Millie told him they were expecting a son. Goyle's marriage was being arranged to Penelope Dricois, a Beauxbatons graduate. Bucking everyone's expectations of a marriage to Draco, Pansy had wed Blaise instead. Draco had ended up with Astoria Greengrass, whom Sam vaguely remembered as being a year below them in Hogwarts; they, too, were expecting their first child. Jess remained single.

Sam looked at his friends and wondered how they were doing it. In the five years since Astra had been born, Sam and Emily had seen little of each other, and drifted apart into their separate lives. Whatever it was that had given them that spark as teenagers had faded, leaving behind a couple in their early-twenties who got along all right but had a hard time communicating. Summer was always difficult as they tried to keep their fights from reaching Astra, the one thing they agreed on. They still cared for each other, in the way longtime friends did, but they were too incompatible now. They weren't sixteen anymore, and they had changed.

It came to a head one day in early November. Sam returned to the house as per usual, Flooing so as to avoid the pain Apparition caused him.

"Astra's at a friend's house," Emily told him. "We need to talk."

She was biting her lip, never a good sign. "All right."

"Have a seat," she said, perching nervously on an armchair. Sam sat on the loveseat. "I - I don't know how to start, so I'm just going to blurt it out."

"All right."

"I slept with someone else."

Punching him in the face would have come as less of a surprise. "Y- you-"

"I'm sorry, Sam," Emily said, and she looked it. "It's just - I don't know. We both know the marriage is failing, and I just - you're never _home_ , and-"

"I know," Sam interrupted. "Just - give me a second?"

He leaned back and closed his eyes. What did this change?

Nothing, he realized. Seven years ago he would have lost it, but he couldn't deny that he'd thought about it once or twice himself. He couldn't blame her for doing what he would have done if he'd been around more women his own age.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"I - I don't know."

"That makes two of us, then," he said heavily. "But I think - I think we have to face it. You were right, our marriage just isn't working."

"So we have three options," Emily said.

"Three?"

"Yes, Sam. Three. Either we keep going as we have, or we divorce, or we keep going but see a marriage counselor."

"There's a fourth option," Sam said.

"Which is?"

"Open the marriage. Astra's parents stay married. You get what you need - or want - from other places."

"What about you? What do you get?"

"The knowledge that my wife and child are as happy as I can make them," Sam said quietly.

"And is that enough for you? I mean, do you want this?"

Fuck no he didn't want this. He wanted Emily to want to be by his side, he wanted to feel about her the way he had at nineteen, he wanted Astra's parents to be head over heels for each other. The last thing he wanted was to open the marriage.

But he didn't really have a choice, did he? If they divorced, Emily would almost certainly get full custody of Astra, and he couldn't stand the thought of only seeing his daughter once or twice a year. If they kept going as they had, one of them would cheat again, and their marriage wouldn’t survive another blow. It was barely hanging on as it was.

And staying married made sense, didn't it? They had a kid. They had a house. They had a joint fucking bank account. They barely saw each other unless Astra was present. Sam wanted Emily happy enough that she wouldn't insist on a divorce, which would tear Astra apart and begin a nightmare gauntlet of custody battles and lawyers and paperwork.

"I want you to be happy," he said instead. "I can't give you what you want."

"What do _you_ want?"

Sam laughed shortly. "I want my family to be happy. I want Astra to not be dragged around everywhere. I want to avoid screwing her up. I want you to enjoy yourself, and Astra to grow up happy, and my students to pass their tests."

"But that's what you want for other people. This is why we don't work, I don't know what you want for yourself!"

"I don't want _anything_ for myself!" Sam snapped, very aware he was lying.

Emily snorted derisively. "Yeah, sure, you've found enlightenment or whatever. Can we not do this? Please? Just once I'd like to be able to talk about our lives without it turning into an argument."

"I'm not the one who makes it that way," Sam muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Fine. So what do you want to do?"

"I…." Emily trailed off, then seemed to come to a decision. She reached into her purse and pulled out a thick stack of papers. "I want a divorce."

Sam took the paper numbly. "Divorce," he repeated, words falling from his lips like ice.

"We don't work anymore, Sam. We haven't for years, and we both know that." She looked up at him, then back at her finger. She fiddled with her wedding and engagement rings.

"Yeah," he said hollowly. "We do. And you're sure?"

She pulled off the rings and put them on the table. "As sure as I can be."

"Well, then." Sam bit his lip and willed himself not to cry. "Shouldn't we figure out-"

He was cut off by a pounding on the door. "You expecting anyone?" he asked.

"No," she said, looking puzzled. "I'll go see who it is."

Sam played with the rings, staring blindly at them while she went to the door. He had a lot to think about and process, not least the rejection and betrayal within him.

"What are you-" he heard.

"I need help, please-"

"I'm a doctor, come on inside."

"Thanks."

Sam stood and automatically looked around for any magical paraphernalia lying out. He kicked a copy of _Witch Weekly_ with a moving picture of Ginny Weasley and the caption _Pregnant?_ underneath the couch. The papers, waiting on just his signature, could remain - the words weren't moving, they wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

Anything else he might have done was stopped by a scream. He bolted, instinctively drawing his wand, and had just cleared the door to the living room when a roiling wall of heat smacked him in the face.

Emily had been in the foyer, which was behind another door. Sam barreled through it, brandishing his wand, and stopped. Emily was on the ceiling, blood seeping out of her belly, in the exact same position Sam's mother had died in twenty-two years earlier.

Then came the explosion of fire.

" _Aguamenti! _" he screamed, pointing his wand at the flames - but the water boiled off into steam before it even got close. " _Aguamenti maxima! Prohiberigni! Partuharenam! Frigiflammas! Ardens prohibere!_ "__

__Nothing worked, and he was forced back out of the foyer, flames advancing with him. They were eating everything in sight, everything he and Emily had worked so hard for, and Sam was forced to retreat, casting as many spells on the flame as he could remember, wishing he'd thought to learn the Bodily Flame Freezing Charm - but if the Outside Flame Freezing Charm hadn't worked on the wood, it was unlikely that the spell meant to protect people would work._ _

__He was a stubborn bastard, though, and he kept trying, refusing to admit defeat, refusing to admit that he'd failed once more-_ _

__And then, abruptly, he was in an abandoned house. One of his spells hit the wall and turned it into a solid sheet of ice._ _

__Sam stopped spelling and blinked in confusion. Where the fuck was he?_ _


	3. Chapter 3

An abandoned town, it turned out. He still had his wand, so clearly whoever had grabbed him didn't consider a stick to be a threat. But why? Why him, and why Emily?

Oh, fuck, _Astra._ Her mother was dead. Sam might be on his way there himself. She needed him.

He tried to Apparate and instantly felt like he'd been struck in the face with a bodybuilder's dumbbell. He collapsed, shaking.

"Hey. Hey!" somebody yelled, and Sam pushed himself to his feet. "You okay, man?"

The new arrival was a black man sporting combat fatigues with a nametag reading TALLEY, a military buzz, and an American accent. "Fine," Sam said. "You?"

"Yeah. I'm good. Where are we?"

"Fuck if I know," Sam said. "One minute I was-" His voice broke. "Anyway. Don't know how I got here. You?"

"I went to bed last night in Afghanistan. Woke up here and a really strong smell - like, uh, rotten eggs?"

"Sulfur," Sam said, and it was blindingly obvious. "A demon must've-"

"Hands where I can see them!" a new voice cried. The two of them wheeled around to see a short white man with dark hair and completely empty hands.

"How'd you get here?" Sam asked him.

"I - what? I don't know. Woke up here. Really strong smell, like-"

"Rotten eggs, yeah," Talley said. "Sulfur."

"All right, I think what happened is-"

A banging on the door interrupted them. "Help me!" a woman cried, interrupting Sam mid-sentence.

Talley hurried toward the noise. "Hold on," he called, reaching for the handle. "Locked."

"If it was unlocked, would she be asking for help?" the other man said sarcastically.

"Back up, I'll break it down," Sam said, lining himself up and kicking. His foot went right through the rusted-out padlock, and he swore quietly as he pulled it back.

"Good leg," Talley said.

"Makes up for the bad arm," he said dryly, starting to break the boards around the doorknob. The woman inside reached out to help him. "I'm Sam, by the way."

"Jake Talley."

"Andy Gallagher."

"And I'm Ava Wilson, now can you _please_ tell me what's going on?"

"You'll know when we do," Sam answered. "I have a few theories, but we need to get somewhere secure first. Jake, Andy, is there a house with intact walls? And isn't locked?"

"Two streets back," Andy said instantly. "We'll get Ava out and double back-"

"Hello?" someone else called.

Sam glanced at Jake. "You wanna finish the door or see who that is?"

"I'll take it down," he said, glancing at Sam's dangling right arm. "You go...see who that is."

Sam backed away. "All yours."

He found a pale blonde woman with her skin completely covered a street over, right in front of a bell with an oak tree on it. "Hello?"

"Where am I?" she asked.

"No idea. Come on - there's four of us, all just woke up here. We'll figure this thing out, all right?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

"I'm Sam. What's your name?"

"Lily."

"Lily," he murmured. "I almost named my daughter that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Named her Astra, instead." He swallowed and beckoned her to walk next to him. "I don't know who's got her, right now. I don't even know where we are, or what day it is. One second I was trying to save-" His voice cracked.

"Save your daughter?" she asked.

"My wife. Her mother. It was - barely an hour ago, we-"

Lily put a gloved hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," he said, and cleared his throat. "So. We're here, wherever 'here' is. Why?"

"I don't know," she said, fiddling with a glove.

"Sam!"

"Hey, guys," he called. "This is Lily. Lily, that's Jake and Andy. Ava is-"

"Right here," a round-faced white woman with dark hair said as she crawled out of the hole in the door. "And you are?"

"Sam. Andy, where's that house you found?"

"You said you had theories," Ava said, eyes sharp on his face. "Let's hear those, first."

"Let's get somewhere safe, first," Sam argued. "Jake, you're military, you know how to run extractions and protective details. Get safe, then get details."

"He's right," Jake said. "How'd you know-?"

"My father was a Marine," he said. "And I didn't get my arm hurt laying on a beach in Monaco. Safe first, then talk."

"Fine," Ava said, scowling.

"Lead the way, Andy," Sam said, fingering his wand.

The moment they were inside Sam was muttering the charm to produce salt and laying it across the doorway. "All right," he said, turning around. "Everyone smelled sulfur, right? That means demon."

That went over like a ton of bricks. "A _demon?_ " Jake asked in disbelief.

"Demons don't exist," Andy said.

"Sam, this is crazy," Ava said.

"You have to believe me!"

"Fuck this, and fuck you," Jake said. "You're crazy. I'm gone."

"He's right," Ava said. "I mean, demons?"

"I believe it," Lily said unexpectedly. "Too much weird's happened in the last few months."

"Like?" Jake asked.

There was a scream, and they all turned their heads. Jake started to run outside.

" _Locomotor mortis!_ " Sam snapped. Jake shrieked and fell. "That's called the Leg-Locker Curse," Sam informed them. "Jake's legs stopped working. I can do magic. I'm a wizard. Trust me when I say demons exist, and they want us for something."

"You got magic powers?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah," Ava said shakily. "I just see the future."

"So do I," Sam said. 

"I can make people do things," Andy said.

"Jake? Lily?" Sam prompted when no more was forthcoming. "Oh - sorry - _finite._ "

Jake stood. "I got strength. Not that it matters against a stick."

Sam chuckled. "I literally teach personal defense at wizard school."

"That how you hurt your arm?"

Sam winced. "No. No, I was a soldier in our last war. I got hit bad."

"How long ago?" Jake asked.

"Four years. It was my eighteenth birthday." Sam shook his head. "Magic can only do so much, you know? Anyway, right now we need to figure out why we're all here. Lily, you got anything special?"

"When I touch people, their hearts stop."

"So that's why you're all kitted up," Jake said. "Gloves and all."

"But why us?" Andy asked.

Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We need help on this. Andy, you can make people do things?"

"And show them images, yeah."

A plan coalesced. "So if I knew somebody who could help us-"

"I could talk to them," Andy said. "You got something they touched recently?"

Sam's hand darted into his pocket and took out the first thing he touched.

Emily's rings.

"That's perfect," Andy said, reaching for it.

"No," Sam said, jerking it back. "Emily didn't - when they grabbed me…." He trailed off.

Andy's arm fell. "Oh."

"Yeah." Sam fought back tears. "We weren't - it wasn't going to last much longer, anyway. We were signing divorce papers."

"Oh, damn," Jake said. "So you go back, police suspect arson-"

Sam's eyes widened as it hit him. "Oh, _shit._ Astra…."

"Who's that?" Ava asked.

"His daughter," Lily said. "Can we back on topic? Sam, who do you know that can help?"

Sam sighed. "That depends on where we are. My… _contacts_ in Britain are more recent. Half the people I know in America would rather kill me than look at me. Caleb's about the only one I think of, but I don't even know his last name."

"Know his face?" Andy asked.

"As of fifteen years ago."

"Good enough. Picture him."

Sam brought forward his face, lit by the flames of a burning rougarou, and his voice saying, _You're a kid. You shouldn't be risking your life every day for no other reason than you're told to._

"Got it," Andy said.

Four hundred miles away, Caleb called Bobby. "Singer. Need some help. All I got's a message of a bell with an oak tree and a coupla scared twenty-somethings."

"I'll be in touch," Singer said gruffly, and hung up.

"Bobby?"

Bobby sighed and poured himself another glass of whiskey before he looked at the men sitting at his kitchen table. "John, Dean, start lookin' for a bell with an oak tree on it. Soon as you find it, I got us a job with Caleb."


	4. Chapter 4

Sam took first watch that night. He'd been awake for a long time, and he knew that when he crashed, he'd crash hard. He spent the watch warding the house - there had been heat lightning all day, which meant demon activity, and a lot of it. He didn't trust that salt to hold against a concentrated attack, even if he'd sealed it in place with enough Sticking Charms to survive a thousand years.

When Lily and Andy took over, Sam fell onto the ground and was asleep in seconds.

_"Ah, Sam," a man with yellow eyes sighed. "I knew we'd talk eventually."_

_"You killed my mother," Sam breathed._

_"Mm, yes. And your soon-to-be-ex-wife. She had some help coming to that decision, by the way."_

_Sam's blood turned to ice. "You broke up my marriage?"_

_"I did indeed. Play the game and I won't go further."_

_"And what's the game?"_

_"I need a soldier. Just one, Sam. One leader for the legions of hell. So twenty-three years ago, I started a new race. And now, you're fighting to the death for the honor."_

_"The honor of leading Hell's army?"_

_"And the honor of surviving, of course."_

_"And if we don't play along?"_

_"Well, after Emily, you know firsthand what will happen to your little girl."_

_"You leave Astra out of this, you bastard!"_

_"If you do what I say, of course I will."_

_"And you say to kill everyone and lead your army?"_

_Yellow-Eyes inclined his head. "It's that, or your little girl goes just like her mommy and her grandmommy. I'm counting on you, Sam. You're my favorite._

Sam woke with a pounding head and an argument going on around him.

"We've got to get out of here," one of the girls was saying.

"No way. We can't run. He can get into our _heads!_ "

Sam pushed himself upwards. "What happened?"

"Jake's dead," Ava said.

That woke him up properly. "What?"

"Hanging from the water tower," Andy said, pointing, and sure enough, when Sam looked out he was hanging from his neck.

"Who was on watch with him?" Sam asked, eyes skewering Ava.

"I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, he was-"

"Don't give me that," Sam said, stepping close to her.

She looked down, and when she looked up, there was a pinch to her mouth. "He has my fiance."

"And he's got my daughter," Sam said flatly. "Anyone else have family he's holding hostage?"

"My girlfriend," Andy said.

"My parents," Lily admitted.

"Great. So he's using the same leverage on all of us." Sam scrubbed his face. "All right. Andy, any way we can do the mind-meld again? Maybe if I'm concentrating, we can bump it up - actually talk to him."

"Worth a try," Andy said. "Anyone else wanna help?"

"You need to touch me?" Lily asked.

Andy winced. "No, uh, no. Just your glove is close enough."

"Then I'm in. Ava?"

"You can't, like, read my mind, can you?"

"No, no. It's just talking. Sam, if you don't mind giving me your right hand-"

"Not happening. I'll give you my left, though."

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry." Andy's eyes skittered onto and off of Sam's arm. "Just, uh, come around to my, um, my other side."

They arranged themselves in a sort of square, all of them touching Andy in some way. "All right, now what?" Lily asked.

"Just hang on for the ride," Andy said. "Sam, think of Caleb again."

Sam focused on him. He blinked, and then he was looking at the inside of a very familiar study with some very familiar people.

"Caleb?" Andy asked.

"Guys - guys, wait-"

Darkness slid around them; the four were the only thing illuminated. Then the light was back.

Caleb had blinked. They were in Caleb's head.

"Caleb?" Sam said shakily.

"They're talking," Caleb said.

"What are they saying?" Bobby asked.

"Do you know anything about the bell yet?" Sam asked urgently. "We've already lost one of us. The demon's holding our families hostage. We can't get out. It's taking all of us pooling our brains just to _talk_."

"The bell," Caleb said. "We have anything on the bell?"

"Just found it," Dean said. "Cold Oak."

"You hear that? Cold Oak."

"I heard it," Sam said. "Listen to me, Caleb. We need help, but you need to tell John and Dean something first, okay?"

"Hold up, Dean, John, one of 'em's got a message."

"Caleb, I'm Sam Winchester. Tell them that if they try to kill me again, all bets are off and I _will_ act to defend myself. And tell them it's the same thing that killed Mom."

"He says he's Sam Winchester," Caleb said. "I thought you said he got lost on a hunt?"

The other Winchesters' faces darkened. "He shoulda stayed lost," John spat.

"Yeah, well, didn't want it to be a surprise," Sam said. "The others are completely innocent."

"What the hell happened?" Bobby asked.

"I'm a wizard. There's two kinds, the kind that sells their soul and the kind that's born with it. I was born with it. Look, just please - before anyone else dies, _help us._ "

"Can't hold it much longer, Sam," Andy broke in, face shining with sweat.

"All right," Caleb said. "They gotta go, they're reaching their limit. What's got them is what killed your wife, John, and he was born a wizard, he didn't make a deal. Now let's head out."

"Thank you," Sam said, relieved.  
***  
Back in England, Hermione was staring at the papers on her desk: arrest warrants for Sam Winchester. As the only one of four Deputy Heads not on vacation, it had come to her, even though by the strictest protocol it shouldn't have.

"This isn't right," she said.

"That's what Potter said," Redello told her. "But he was the only one home, and it was Fiendfyre that killed his wife. She had an affair and told him about it. She picked up divorce papers from Legal yesterday. Way I figure it, he got upset and killed her. Wouldn't be the first time he's lost it."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm telling you, Sam didn't do that."

"And you know him so well?" Redello asked sarcastically. "How long's it been since you talked to him?"

Hermione hesitated. "Years," she admitted. "But he wouldn't kill-"

"He was raised a hunter," Redello said. "You know what they're like. For all I know, this was a murder-suicide."

"He wouldn't do that to Astra," Hermione argued. "He loves that little girl. He grew up being shuttled around to different families, he wouldn't have her do the same."

"So where is he?"

"I don't know. But I'm not signing it. All you have is a dead woman and a missing man. For all you know, this was a way to get Sam outside the wards he had set up to keep them all safe, and he was the real target here. He's not without enemies."

"We have more than that! We have divorce papers. We have a man with a history of violent behavior. We have proof that she was going to end the marriage."

"Have you done a Lookback Spell?"

"There's no need."

Hermione pushed the paper back to him. "I'm not signing this," she said flatly. "Do a Lookback, then come back to me."

Redello scowled. "You want me to waste resources on proving that the _Hogwarts Defense professor_ is innocent of _murder_."

Hermione scowled back. "Yes."

Redello grabbed the parchment and stormed out. Hermione instantly grabbed a piece of her own and scribbled down,

_Neville - how likely is it that Sam Winchester killed his wife and skipped the country without his daughter? It's important._

_Hermione_

She attached it to her owl's leg, carried her to the window, and said, "Go fast."

When Neville got the letter in the middle of the night, he didn't even stop to think about it.

_No chance in hell. Is this bullshit why Minerva got brushed off when she Flooed for help finding him?_

_Neville_  
***  
Sam was working on Transfiguring some food for the four of them when his head exploded in pain.

_"Sam," Yellow-Eyes said with a sigh. "Your job is to kill them, not cook for them."_

_"Yeah, well." Sam shrugged. "Can't kill in cold blood. It's not in me."_

_"Would you kill to save your daughter?"_

_Sam bit his lip. "If it comes to her death or the death of the world…."_

_"You'll choose to sacrifice your own flesh and blood over strangers?" Yellow-Eyes sneered. "I could always come and_ make _you."_

_"I need time," Sam corrected. "If you want to make it faster, you should come by. We'll make you a margarita."_

_"Maybe I will," he said, and Sam opened his eyes._

"Look at that," Ava was saying, pointing out the open window. Sam staggered to his feet. "What is that?"

"Demons," Sam said, recognizing the smoky forms instantly. "And a lot of them. The wards might not hold if they all hit at once."

"So, what, we're sitting ducks?" Lily asked, eyes wide in her pale face.

"Maybe," Sam said, drawing his wand. "All of you, behind me."

"Do you know a demon-repelling spell?" Andy asked hopefully.

Sam shook his head. "But I'm hoping one of the others I know will help." He aimed at the mass. " _Stupefy! Caesa! Diffindo!_ "

He ran through every spell he taught, including the Patronus Charm, which slowed down the roiling mass - but inch by inch, his wolverine was forced back. It bought him time, at least.

"Sam?" Lily squeaked.

"Nothing's working," he breathed, dropping his hand down. A new plan coalesced. "All right. Andy, Ava, Lily, make sure the salt lines stay where they are. I'm going out."

"You can't fight them!"

"Not like this," Sam agreed. "But I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

He took a breath and focused, recalling the feeling of the spell he hadn't performed since his arm was injured. He pulled up the yellow-ish red of the viscous plasma, not quite orange as it twined around him and sank into his bones. Mere moments later, the world slid into redness and he pushed himself outside, taking care not to disturb the salt line on the open window. He wasn't sure how hellhounds would affect a Sticking Charm, and didn't want to find out unless he absolutely had to.

Demons were pink in his vision, he realized as he loped toward them and hoped he remembered enough of his Animagus combat class to hurt them. They ran much, much hotter than humans.

As it turned out, he _did_ remember enough of his combat training. The demons had been caught off guard by a hellhound coming at them; they must have assumed Sam was a stray, or perhaps a longtime resident of the most haunted town in America, he didn't know. He just knew that they didn't challenge him until he leapt, bit down deep on wisp of pink, and had it explode in his mouth.

Hellhounds could _kill demons._ That was the best news Sam had heard in a while.

He took down four more before the demons figured out how to face this new threat. They mobbed him all at once; their insubstantial hands grabbed him, and Sam was rising like a cork out of a champagne bottle. He bit and clawed and snapped as best he could, but the demons were too many, he too out of practice. They threw him. He hit the old bell side-first and felt a lot of cracks. Adding insult to injury, the bell snapped off its mooring, and both bell and dog hit the ground.  
***  
"Oh, this is so not good," Andy moaned. Sam had disappeared right in front of them, and then the demon front had halted. Andy had let himself hope Sam could save them - but then the old bell clanged and hit the ground, and the demons advanced again. Sam shimmered into view in front of the bell, and even from a distance Andy could see blood. This was _so_ not good.

"Ava?" Lily asked. "Ava, what are you doing?"

Ava scowled. "I'm not letting that thing kill my family," she said, and swiped a hand through the salt.

Lily slapped her bare hand on Ava's throat. The shorter woman crumpled, and she slipped back on her glove.

"We need to get to Sam," she said flatly. "Look - the demons are leaving."

"She was calling them," Andy whispered.

"Yep. Sam's hurt, Andy, come on."

"Wait," he said. "I can't use my power on any of you. Why can you use yours on her?"

"Maybe because you work on the mind and I work on the body? Who knows?"

Lily darted out before Andy could say anything else. "Sam!" she called. " _Sam!_ "  
***  
The bridge was out, they found when they made it that far. "Guess we're goin' in on foot," Bobby grunted.

Caleb swore under his breath but opened the door and got out. "Don't forget the megaphone."

"Like I would," Bobby said.

"What's going on?" John barked, slamming the door of the old Impala he insisted on driving.

"Bridge's out," Bobby said, hooking a thumb. "We gotta go in on foot."

John nodded. "Dean! Get the gear bag!"

"Got it, sir," Dean said obediently, shouldering a duffel.

They walked on.  
***  
"Fuck," Sam mumbled. "Whaappened?"

"Ava," Lily said, turning her name into a curse.

"Mm. Wheremywan?" He fumbled his left hand until he found the handle. " _Episkey,_ " he mumbled.

Pain jolted through him as his ribs jumped back into place. At least he could breathe again. Next came a Quick-Fix Concussion Charm and a few General Healing Spells.

"All right," he said when he was done, "three of us left. Hope Caleb and the others get here soon."

"They'll get here when they get here," a new voice said, and Sam spun to see-

"You!" he snarled.

"Me," he said easily, yellow eyes flashing in his long, thin face. "Is this the part where you threaten to kill me?"

Sam didn't give himself time to think, and he sure as hell wasn't going to give the bastard time to move. " _Avada kedavra!_ " he snarled.

He laughed. "You really think-"

Then the curse hit. His eyes widened in shock. He fell. Sam lowered his wand.

"Did you kill him?" Andy whispered.

Sam swallowed. "Maybe. Give me a minute."

He focused again, and the world rippled and resolved into bullseye red. The demon was there, light pink and pulsing. Not dead, then - just stunned.

Sam pounced before he had a chance to recover. He ripped into the man with teeth and claws, and very soon there was nothing but a bloody smear on the ground and a few bits of gore Sam hadn't flung quite far enough away.

He backed up and changed into his human form again when he was sure all of the pink was gone. "He's dead now," Sam said hoarsely.

"Kinda got that," Andy said with a strained smile. "What was that?"

"Just another spell," Sam said. "Anyway. Our families are safe now, unless I'm missing something. Which is possible."

"So how do we get out of here?" Lily asked. "Just go through the trees?"

"Follow the road," Sam said, pointing. "We'll get to a town eventually. When we know where we are, I can work a spell to get you two back to your own homes. I hate to leave Jake and Ava like this, though."

"You want to bury them?" Lily asked.

"No," Sam said, looking up at the water tower and flicking his wand. "Burial won't keep their spirits from sticking around. This town is haunted enough already. It's called a salt-n-burn, used to put down vengeful spirits."

"How do you know this?" Lily asked. "I mean, demons, and - is this something wizards learn?"

"No," Sam said with a thin smile. "I was raised a hunter - someone who chases down and kills the supernatural. When I found out I was a wizard, well - my dad went berserk. Tried to kill me. That's how I ended up in Britain, none of the American schools would take his kid." Jake's body finally reached them. Sam set it next to Ava's and flicked his wand again, bringing a bag of rock salt over. "He's on his way. Caleb - the one I wanted to talk to - he called them in before he knew who we were."

"So a man who wants to kill you is on his way, and you're worried about respecting bodies?"

"I'm worried about them turning into ghosts," Sam corrected Lily. "The hunters will leave you alone. They don't have a problem with psychics."

"Just wizards," Andy said mockingly.

"Yep." Sam sprinkled salt over the bodies and jabbed his wand, setting them alight. They crumbled to ash in under a minute. "Let's start walking."

"How about you stay right where you are," somebody said gruffly.

"We got company," Andy said unnecessarily.

Sam turned, dread filling him. "Hi, Caleb, Bobby. John. Dean, you got big."

He wasn't lying. Dean was as tall as John, now. Bobby and Caleb looked the same, both with a little more grey. John was a _lot_ more grey.

"So did you," Dean said, staring dumbly. "Sammy?"

"Hi."

"So," John said loudly, "where's the demon, eh?"

"There," Lily said, pointing at a smear.

"Magic's good for something," Sam said, meeting John's eyes squarely.

"You destroyed a demon?" John sneered.

"He killed my wife and threatened my little girl," Sam said. "You've spent the last two and a half decades trying to do what I did in ten minutes. And _I_ did it without threatening to kill my kid."

"You stupid little-"

"We got company," Caleb said suddenly, eyes tracking behind them. "Demon storm."

"Get inside," Sam ordered. "Andy, Lily, you take point, I get rear."

"You gonna do your invisi-thing again?" Andy asked, already turning around.

"Too many of them," Sam said, motioning the hunters past them. "They'll rip me to shreds before I do any real damage."

"You hurt your arm, son?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah. There was a war, and I got hit bad. We'll talk more inside."

"Y'know, we got exorcisms and a megaphone, but I don't know how it'll work with demons outside o' vessels."

"Try it. I can get us out of here fast if I need to." Sam bit his lip and counted heads after he closed the door behind them. "Yeah. Yeah, I can take six."

"Sound like you're talking yourself into it," Lily said nervously.

Sam forced a smile. "It'll be fine," he said as Caleb started reading Latin off a piece of paper.

"What are these?" John asked, gesturing at the walls.

"Wards," Sam said. "Assyrian, Babylonian, Phoenician, Roman. Meant to repel evil spirits. I don't trust the salt to hold up against that many demons. Don't trust the wards, come to that, but it'll buy more time for us to get out if we need to."

"How long does this transportation take?" John asked.

"It's almost instantaneous, but the more I take along, the longer it takes. Hence the wards."

"You picked up an accent, boy," Bobby said, looking through the window. "They're slowing down."

"I've been in England most of the last twelve years," Sam said. "They're slowing down - are they leaving?"

" _...audinos._ No," Caleb said. "They're not leaving."

"Great," Sam mumbled. "All right, come on. Come on. There's - er - there's only one place I know well enough to pull this off, and that's the wizarding police academy. So don't fucking pull your weapons. Everyone grab on." There were actually a few places he knew well enough - Salem, Law Academy, the American Ministry, Kate's house - but Law Academy was the only place he'd dare take John. Everywhere else had too great a risk of innocents being hurt by trigger-happy hunters.

"Your idea of getting us out of here is going to the police?" Caleb asked in disbelief. "Boy, what did England _teach_ you?"

"Hey, I graduated that program with _honors._ Those teachers are going to be my best allies. And I need those, because the fucking demon framed me for my wife's murder. We're out of time. Grab hold of me - _not_ my right arm, Caleb, that's going to hurt enough in a few minutes." Hands grabbed him, four on his arm and shoulder, one on his neck.

"John?" Sam asked, catching sight of him.

"Why should we trust you?" he demanded.

"Dad!" Dean protested.

The house shuddered; light flared and faded from the wards. "They're not holding," somebody said.

"John," Sam said. "Please."

The house shuddered again. Three wards crumbled.

"John, if you don't grab hold right now I'm going to have to leave you," Sam snapped. "Get over your ego and let me save your damn life."

"John!" Bobby snarled.

There was another shudder, and the wards failed. A window cracked.

"Dad!" Dean called.

John snarled and ran across. The moment Sam felt his father's hand fist in his polo, he closed his eyes and focused.

It was hard, but he'd expected that. Side-Alonging Astra had been a little more difficult at first, until he'd learned to adjust. Side-Alonging six adults - he'd _known_ that would be hard. He was really stretching himself here, but he was hoping his desperation would make up any gaps.

Normally Apparition felt like he was being squeezed through a drinking straw. Now it felt like his feet were left at one end while his head was drawing toward the other. He could almost guarantee the ride was no more pleasant for his passengers. His right arm erupted in pain, distracting him, and he wrenched his focus toward the obstacle course in Kansas he knew almost as well as he knew his own name. It was a secondary reason he'd built an exact replica at Hogwarts.

Then, with a loud 'crack', they were through. The six of them fell right on top of one of the new recruits.

"The fuck?" somebody blurted.

Hands shoved at Sam's body, and he was vaguely aware of the others being pulled off from on top of him, but most of his attention was focused on catching his breath, calming his heart, and putting out the fire in his arm.

"That's our uniform," somebody blurted.

Different hands rolled him over and smoothed out his right breast - the side with his nametag, which he'd obscured. " _Specialum revelio._ Winchester. Well, this is a surprise. Need a hand?"

"In a minute," he gasped.

"Did you Side-Along all of these people?"

"Yeah."

The man let out a low whistle. "Keep shattering expectations, don't ya?"

"What do you mean?" John demanded. "Where the hell are we?"

"He's a Muggle," Sam said warningly. "All of 'em."

"Oh, Winchester, you got some explaining to do."

Sam finally opened his eyes. "Oh, Instructor Daniels," he sighed. "I don't have all the information."

"Yeah. Sure." Daniels pulled him to his feet. "Explanation."

"Oh, hey! You proposing soon or something?" a girl asked excitedly.

"What?" Sam spat, spinning around.

She leaned down. "You dropped this," she said, straightening and offering him a diamond ring.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Thanks," he said hoarsely. He must have put them in his pocket when he was at the house. "You - there should be a gold-"

"Oh, here it is!" someone else said. "All prepared for when she says yes, huh?" he joked.

Sam took the rings stiffly. "She was killed."

Daniels winced. "This the healer student who helped out?"

"Yes." Sam swallowed again. "Anyway, uh, sorry for dropping in like this, but it's the closest place I could think of that I _might_ be able to Side-Along six."

"Where were you?"

"Missouri."

"Why'd you Side-Along so many?"

"We were all about to be killed," Sam said flatly. "Wards failed. The place was coming down around our ears. Hundreds of demons waiting to rip us to shreds. We'll head out, lay low for a bit. I go to the Ministry, hope like hell Britain's gotten its shit together and I don't go to jail for being home when Em was killed-"

"Nobody would prosecute for that," Daniels said.

"They sent a friend of mine to jail without trial for thirteen years because he was a friend of a family who was killed in Voldemort's first war and he was on a street when it exploded. They're gonna think I was responsible."

"Hey, if they do, come on back. Austin School of Magic is looking for a new Defense professor for next year. Headmaster owes me a favor, and way you fight, you deserve that job."

"Gee, thanks."

"Enough!" John yelled. "You are going to tell me what the fuck is going on."

Sam met his eyes squarely. "You know everything I do."

"More than we do," Andy said, gesturing between himself and Lily. "I mean, _demons?_ "

"And why us, anyway?" Lily tacked on.

"Psychics," Sam said, tapping the side of his head. "Now. Demons should disperse in, what say you, Bobby, an hour?"

"Sounds about right."

"I'll drop you all back in town, you can go back to your cars. Andy and Lily, I'll take you home, or the closest I can get you, anyway. Instructor, I'm sorry to just drop in like this. We'll be on our way."

"Don't make a habit of it, Winchester. Even war heroes have limits."

"I just Side-Alonged six adults. I know limits. Really, sorry for interrupting the course."

Daniels considered him. "How long's it been since you did this?"

Sam snorted. "Three days, maybe. Made a replica back at Hogwarts, teach it to my upper years. My daughter keeps begging me to let her run it."

"Yeah? Whaddaya say to her?"

"When she doesn't beg me to pick her up after she gets out of school, I'll consider it."

"You have a daughter?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Astra. I really do need to get back to England, though, so if I can just start dropping you all off?"

"Oh, yeah. Course," Bobby said.

"Chapman," Daniels bellowed, "Britzer finished the course, why aren't you running it?"

"Okay, Andy. Where do you live?" Sam asked, leading them away from the course.

"Guthrie. Oklahoma."

"Lily?"

"San Diego."

"Great," Sam muttered. "I'm going to need some help getting you back, then."

"Why?" Andy asked.

"Because I don't know either place well enough to Apparate - that's what we just did - or create a one-use Portkey for you. So, uh, guess we're going to the American Ministry."

"Won't you be arrested, though?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," he said glumly. "But I need to go there to get back to England anyway. So - uh - guess I'll wait an hour, take you guys back to Cold Oak, and then get you two to the Ministry."

They'd walked a good fifty yards before Sam said, "This looks good," and sat in the grass. John and Dean stood in front of him awkwardly; the other moved on ten feet or so before sitting.

"So," John said at last. "You killed the demon."

"I did."

"How?"

"Spell."

"Magic comes from demons, they can't be hurt by it," John snapped. "That was the first-"

" _Some_ magic comes from demons," Sam interrupted. "Some of it just happens."

"Yeah. Like I believe that."

"You're in a school for people becoming police for magic folks," Sam said flatly. "So unless you think the literal _thousands_ of withes and wizards worldwide sold their souls and got a deal longer than ten years, get your head out of your ass."

John snarled. "You don't get to talk to me like that."

Sam stared his father down. "You told me if you ever saw me again you'd kill me. I had to _change hemispheres_ because you did that. I'll talk to you however I damn well please, you arrogant son of a-"

"All right!" Dean said loudly. "Take it down a notch."

"Shut up, Dean," John said.

"No. Don't shut up, Dean," Sam said. "I'd rather not commit another homicide today."

"Is that a threat?"

"Nope."

"So!" Dean said quickly. "War hero. How'd that happen?"

"There was a war, and I fought," Sam said. "Had a dozen seventeen-year-olds under my command, got them all out alive. That's how my arm got munged up, the last battle I got hit."

"And magic couldn't help?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "It doesn't hurt nearly as much as it would if it had healed the Muggle way, but nothing bends anymore. Had to switch dominant hands, took fewer hunts-"

"You still hunt?" John asked.

"Yep. Never stopped. Took out a troll my first year, basilisk my second. Did a bunch of other crap over the summer. Went on a rawhead hunt when I was here, but you two beat us to it."

"What?"

"Yeah. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I was getting ready to fire the shot and you two came outta nowhere."

Caleb snorted. He, Bobby, Lily, and Andy had moved closer without any of the Winchesters realizing it. "So what was your latest?"

Sam thought. "I stopped after my daughter was born. Didn't want to risk her growing up without her dad, you know?" Caleb and Bobby both nodded. "So my last was probably that rawhead. Lost the arm four months later, got a job teaching three months after that, day after I graduated. You guys do anything but hunt?"

"Hunting's all we need, right, Dean?" John asked.

Dean smiled, but it came out a grimace. "Right."

From the looks Caleb and Bobby exchanged, they, too, had caught that Dean was less than impressed with the hunting lifestyle.

"So. Bobby, Caleb, anything happen lately I should know about?"

"Demon activity's up," Bobby said, "but I think today explained that."

"You knew who it was," Lily said. "How?"

"I spent the first ten years of my life hunting him," Sam said. "The Yellow-Eyed Demon killed my mother."

"Sam was six months-" John began.

"To the day?" Andy interrupted.

"How'd you know that?" Dean asked.

"I was six months when my mother was killed."

"So was I," Lily said.

"Okay, so he picked us twenty-two years ago," Sam said. "He knew we would be psychics-"

"What?" John interrupted.

"How else do you think we got into Caleb's head?" Sam asked rhetorically. "That's Andy's gift."

"And what's your - uh - gift?" Bobby asked.

"See the way people die," Sam said. "When I was fifteen, I spent a week in bed because I couldn't see what was around me for all the blood."

"And yours?"

Lily lifted her gloved hands. "Death by touch. It gets lonely."

Caleb and Bobby both edged away, but John reached behind his back.

"Don’t," Sam said warningly.

"Hey, hey," Andy said. " _Stop._ "

"Why should I?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because-" Sam began.

"Hang on," Andy interrupted. "Bobby, _do backflips._ "

"Boy, what have you been drinking?"

Andy sucked in a breath. "It doesn't work anymore."

"What?" Lily and Sam asked together.

"I told you, I could make people do things. But you're not doing things."

Sam and Lily looked at each other. "What do you think? Is it possible?" Lily asked.

"Let's try it out," Sam said. "Your - death touch. Does it work on everything, or just mammals?"

"Everything. Makes pest control kind of a breeze." She half-smiled. "Wrecked the rest of my life, but no cockroaches in my apartment."

" _Accio worm,_ " he muttered, pointing his wand at the grass. A moment later, an earthworm was pulled from the ground. Sam caught it, and it wiggled in his hand. "Let's try it out."

"Put it down somewhere first," she said. "If I'm wrong-"

"Yeah, okay," Sam said, flicking his wand again. A handkerchief twisted into being and settled flat on the ground. He tipped the worm onto the cloth as Lily pulled off her glove.

She reached out a trembling finger, hesitated. She took a deep breath, reached down slowly, made contact for the briefest instant before yanking her hand back, and - nothing.

She gasped when it kept wriggling and reached out again. She touched the worm for a few seconds, then slowly added a second finger, then a third.

Then she laughed, launched herself at Andy, and tackled him to the ground in the most exuberant display of relief Sam had seen since the war ended.

"Lily, you are cursed no more," Sam joked, laughing himself. They were all three free. John's revenge quest was over. _Sam's_ revenge quest was over. Things were looking up.

The rings in his pocket pressed into his thigh when he shifted, and he sobered. For a moment, he'd forgotten his wife was dead, he didn't know where his daughter was, and he was most likely wanted in the country he'd made his home. Things weren't looking up, things were crashing and burning.

On the bright side, he only had another half-hour to kill before he could drop the hunters back at Cold Oak and take Andy and Lily to the Ministry, at which point he could throw himself on the mercy of any classmates who both remembered him and were working at the Ministry. He still had citizenship here. Maybe. Maybe with Hermione working in the British Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he could get at least a trial.

He needed to actually make an effort to keep in touch with people, because he was no longer sure he could count on Hermione to fight tooth and nail for the sake of fairness. He didn't know if he had _any_ allies in the American Ministry. Too many goddamn maybes, too many loose ends, too much stacked against him.

Short of a miracle, he was going to Azkaban.


	5. Chapter 5

"So?" Hermione prompted.

Redello winced. "You - er - you were right. It wasn't him."

Hermione ignored the 'told you so' begging to be said. "Who was it?"

"It was a man. American accent. Yellow eyes - powerful dark magic. He set the fire, followed Winchester outside, grabbed him, and left - don’t know where. Tracking spells failed. Winchester - he kept shooting freezing spells. He tried to save her.

"But the thing is" - Redello took a seat in front of her desk - "she was on the ceiling when she died."

"What?"

"Yeah. Pinned her to the ceiling, sliced open her belly, and set her on fire. Wandless. You ever hear of that?"

"No. Wandless, really? Fiendfyre?"

"Really."

Hermione let out a low whistle. "And he controlled it?"

"Followed Winchester right out the door. Cut off all other exit routes. Even kept it from forming shapes." Redello shook his head. "Nobody has that much control. I don't think Winchester's getting out alive."

Hermione rubbed her temples. "This is gonna be a mess. He's still got his American citizenship, Muggle and magical. This is an international incident already."

"Hope he didn't go somewhere other than the States or Great Britain, then. Another country getting involved would be messy."

Hermione glanced up at him. "It's a fucking mess now. All right, who's the Auror contact in America...there's…." She rifled through her desk drawer. "Keisha Grunger. Salem Institute and Law Academy graduate. Same place Sam went. Maybe she knew him. I'll call."

The best thing about the post-war era was that the Ministry had adopted some Muggle technology. The Muggle-borns in the Ministry and the International Cooperation offices all had telephones now. It had taken three years to figure out how to make them work in a magical environment, but it was a lot faster than owls. Most of the nations in the world with magical governments had done the same, and now they'd formed a good network for the sake of diplomacy.

They also had numbers they might need in a list of stapled paper - another new introduction to Britain, and one Hermione was beyond thankful for. She pulled out the stack, found 'America' (just under 'Afghanistan' and above 'Arab Confederacy of Independent States'), and dialed the number for 'Law - Informative Criminal/Keisha Grunger'.

"Keisha Grunger's office," a perky voice said.

"Hi, this is Hermione Granger, in Great Britain's Magical Law office-"

"Oh, you're working late."

She glanced at the clock - it was nearing ten. "Yeah, guess I am. Can you put me through to Ms. Grunger, please? Code Fern."

"One moment."

Grunger picked up moments later. "Keisha Grunger."

"Hi, this is Hermione Granger, from Britain. I'm calling about a national of yours - Sam Winchester?"

"What's Sam got himself into this time?"

"You know him?"

"Went to school with him."

"So did I," Hermione said.

"Does he still do that - that expression, like he's tasted something disgusting when you ask him about his family?"

Hermione laughed. "He's done that since he was eleven. Doesn't even realize he's doing it, I don't think. Anyway, last night, dark magic. Killed his wife, kidnapped him."

"Well, that's not good," she said. "What do you need from us?"

"You have a - a way, to track citizens, right? Like the Trace for people over the age of majority?"

"Yeah, but we have to apply it first. Only on criminals. Otherwise it's a violation of privacy law."

"Damn it."

"So Sam Winchester's missing?"

"Kidnapped. All we got's yellow eyes."

"Yellow eyes, huh? Lemme just look through files, see if we have anything."

"How long'll that take?"

"Five minutes, maybe. So - last I heard he was going to teach Defense. How's that going?"

Hermione laughed. "The director of Law Enforcement's pretty impressed with the new recruits coming out of there."

"Did he really take the obstacle course over there?"

"So I've been told. A friend of ours is the Herbology teacher."

"Fantastic. And oh, look at that. New filing system's paying off - we already got a hit."

"Yeah?" Hermione motioned Redello closer and angled the handset so that they could both hear.

"Hit one - fire killed a woman above her baby's crib, uh, twenty-three years ago. Hit two - fire killed a woman above...her baby's crib. Twenty-two years ago. Four more...all the same...Winchester's the name on one. November second, nineteen-eighty-three, twenty-two years ago. This is a pattern. Your guy with yellow eyes is a serial arsonist and murderer."

"How many?"

"Hits are still coming in. Thirty so far. I'll check in on the victims, see where they are. I'll call you back when I know more."

"Thanks. Don't worry about the time - I don't think I'm going home until this thing's over, whenever that is."

"Will do. Talk to you soon."

"Bye."

Hermione hung up. "So Winchester's missing, and he's not the only one to be caught by him before."

"What is this, a - a three-decade plan?" Redello asked.

"It's possible." Hermione tied her hair back. "Time to go look through _our_ files, I think. See if he's hit over here."

Redello stood. "I'll join you, if you don't mind."

"Work'll go faster with two," Hermione said.  
***  
"Cold Oak should be clear," Sam said, checking his watch. "Andy, Lily, I'll be back. The rest of you, grab on. Should be smoother this time."

"Why's that?" Bobby asked.

"Transporting fewer," Sam said. "Ride's normally half that time. I go that same distance twice a day in under a second."

"Damn useful," Bobby said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Shoulder always hurts like a bitch, though. All right, come on, grab hold."

Four hands made contact with his sleeve. He focused hard and turned.

It was worse than normal Apparition, but not quite as bad as the earlier one. Sam still landed on the ground out of breath, but this time his heart didn't feel like it was getting a prison tattoo from his ribs.

"Some trick," Caleb said with a shaky laugh.

Sam gingerly got to his feet. "All right, where'd you park?"

"Behind the bridge that got cut out," Bobby said.

"Want some backup?"

"No, boy, it's all right." Bobby smiled at him. "You grew up good."

"And big," Caleb said, punching his left arm gently.

"Sam," John said stiffly, and turned around. "Come on, Dean."

Bobby and Caleb glanced at each other. "See you around," Caleb said.

"You got my number, boy. You need anything, you call."

"Thanks, Bobby," Sam said.

Dean glanced behind him as the two men walked away. "Here," he said quietly, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling something on it. "My cell number. I - it's different, without you."

"I missed you a lot," Sam said, just as softly. "First month over here, everything reminded me of what I lost."

"Only the first month?"

"Then I reached Hogwarts - that's the school I went to - and it's a literal castle. They still write with parchment and quills. I got placed with a couple hunters over the summers - we keep in touch, still." Sam half-smiled. "Years passed, Dean. I grew up."

"But family first, right?"

 _The family tossed me on my ass._ "Yeah. You, uh - you should meet Astra, sometime."

"Who?"

"My daughter," Sam reminded him.

"Oh, yeah! Yeah. I'd love to."

"Dean!" John barked.

Sam took the paper. "I'll call, when I can. Phones don't work at school."

"I'll be seeing you then, Sammy."

"Bye, Dean," Sam said. He focused on the lawn of Law Academy and turned.

He reappeared next to Andy and Lily. "You guys ready to go?"

"Yep," they said together.

He held out his arm and focused on the atrium to the American ministry - the part he remembered best. "Then let's go."

They grabbed hold and turned with him. Unsurprisingly, this was the easiest Apparition of the day, and they landed in same position Sam had wanted them to. They didn't even fall on top of anybody.

"All right," Sam said. "Information desk is this way."

"Lead on," Andy said.

There was a young wizard, probably just out of school, sitting at the desk. "Hi, how can I help you?" he asked, Jersey accent coming out strong. "

"I need some help getting Muggles back to their state of residence following abduction by a magical creature Restricted Class Nine."

"Class Nine?" he repeated. "How…? No. No. You need Law Enforcement, level four, and they'll put you in contact with Transportation, level seven, and Creature Control, level six."

"Thanks - er - Steve," Sam said, checking his nametag. "Come on, you guys, stick close."

He made his way to the elevator and pressed the button for 'six'. "So what happens now?" Andy asked.

"Now? We get to law enforcement and hope they help us."

"Hope?" Lily asked.

"They might not want to get involved with Muggles," Sam said tiredly. "If that's the case, we go to an airport and I get you onto a plane. Ah, here we are. Fast elevator."

The doors opened to a bustling office. Of course - it was coming up on five-thirty. Quitting time was over, and the bars were filling up. Things would get more interesting as the night wore on and people got steadily drunker.

He led them to the desk marked 'Public Help'. "Whatcha need?" asked the woman sitting there.

Sam recognized her. "Amanda, right? Sam Winchester."

"Oh, hi!" she said happily, entire demeanor changing.

"Yeah, hi. Listen, I need some help getting these two Muggles back to their home states following abduction by a Class Nine."

"A- damn, Sam, I knew you were good or Daniels wouldn't've taken you on that Rawhead hunt, but a Class Nine? You got away from one of those?"

"He killed one of those," Lily corrected, smirking.

" _Damn._ All right, lemme get the capt-"

"Incoming," somebody announced. "Immediate priority."

She grimaced. "Sorry, one- hey, this is about you. Yellow eyes, huh?" She stood.

All three of them stiffened. "How did you-"

"New orders. You go straight past the captain and up to the clerks. I'll take you back. So tell me - what happened? How'd you kill a Class Nine?"

"Animagus form," Sam said. "Not a whole lot I can't kill like that."

"You still with, uh, Emily, right?"

"Class Nine got her," Sam said quietly. "Two nights ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! That's the death by fire?"

"Yes," he said, voice clipped.

"Oh, right, sorry. I married Duncan Trigliori, you remember him? He was in the Jailer program."

"I think so. Italian, right?"

"That's him!"

"The last name gave it away," he said in all seriousness.

"Oh, you're still so funny! Here we are, then." She rapped smartly on a closed oak door. "Winchester's here, Keisha."

"Send him in, then!"

"Good to see you again, Sam," Amanda said brightly.

"You too, Amanda."

"She just ignored us," Andy said.

"Yeah, she's good at that." Sam opened the door. "Keisha!"

"Sam!" Keisha beamed at him. "Wow, you got _big._ "

Sam chuckled. "Keisha, these are Andy Gallagher and Lily White. Muggles caught in a Class Nine creature abduction." He closed the door behind them.

"If anyone was gonna take out a Class Nine, it'd be a psychic hunter," Keisha said dryly. "Please, all of you, have a seat. Sam, I have to call a Miss Granger, at the British Ministry. She strong-armed the Aurors into doing a Lookback, and it's good for you she did."

"Yeah," Sam said fervently. "I'll have to send her some wine."

Keisha snorted. "Flowers might work better."

"Nah, her husband hates me," Sam said dismissively. "So you're taking statements? Isn't that usually left to-"

"Two words, Sam," Keisha interrupted. " _International incident._ You've got dual citizenship now. I don't think Granger's passed it up the chain of command, and I know your boss got nowhere with the Aurors. I put out a missing person alert, but when the tracking spells failed it went right into the 'needs work' pile. Don't tell the higher-ups that pile exists, by the way."

Sam mimed zipping his lips shut.

"Good deal, knew I could count on you. This guy." She looked at Andy and Lily. "This guy can keep a secret."

"Good to know," Andy said with a nervous smile.

"So! Statements. Sam, Lily, wait outside. We'll start with Andy."  
***  
After they'd all told her what had happened, she gathered them together in the room. "Andy, Lily, I'm sending you back by Portkey. Sam, you'll have to Floo. If you could just…?" She held out two pieces of scrap paper, each of which had a name written on it. Andy and Lily took them, and then they were gone, spinning their way back to their hometowns.

"Sam, you go ahead to the British Ministry. They'll know where your daughter is."

"Great, thanks," he said. "Really, though, thanks for everything."

"Of course. Just try not to let this happen again."

Sam saluted her, took the Floo powder from the canister near the fireplace, and cried out, "British Ministry of Magic!"

The ride tooknearly five minutes to complete, and he was dizzy as all hell by the time he was spat out into the Ministry lobby. It took him three minutes to trust his feet underneath him enough to stand and make his way to the elevator to find the Auror offices.

He gave his statement to Redello, whom he vaguely remembered from the attack on Hogsmeade just after the war had ended. Redello sent him to Family Services, where they were holding his daughter.

"Daddy!" she cried when she saw him, running toward him.

He knelt to accept her hug. "Hey, baby doll," he said, voice cracking.

"Is Mommy here?" she asked hopefully.

He drew her closer. "No, baby. Mommy - Mommy's not coming back."

"Why not?"

"Because - because she…." His voice failed entirely. How could he explain this? Why hadn't he tried to work this out when he was trapped in Cold Oak? "She went on a trip, Astra. We'll join her one day, but right now Mommy's on her own." Astra started sobbing on his shoulder. "I know, baby, I know," he whispered, rubbing her back. "It'll be okay, though. You and me, and me and you, and Aunt Jessie's gonna be around, too."

"Aunt Jessie?" someone else said.

Sam looked up to see an old friend, now six months pregnant with her first child. "Hey, Millie," he said. "One of - of Emily's friends."

"I'm sorry about her," Millie said. "But where were you?"

"Not in front of Astra," Sam said. His little girl was crying herself out on his shoulder. "I need to get back to Hogwarts, figure out what happens next."

"You need anything, you owl," Millie half-ordered. "We've known each other since we were eleven, don't you _dare_ stand on pride with me or Theo."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said. "All right, baby doll, you ready to Apparate?" She nodded into his shoulder. "Millie, we'll talk soon."

"Okay," she said, sounding unconvinced. When he stood up, Astra secure in his only working arm, she kissed his cheek. "I mean it. Anything."

"I'll see you soon, Millie," he said, and went back to the Apparition chamber.

It was his fifth Apparition of a very long day. It really was a wonder he didn't Splinch himself or Astra, but they landed outside the Hogwarts gates safe and sound. Usually this was the time at which he'd let her down and walk to the castle with her, but this time he kept her close, and he continued holding her as they went into the school. She fell asleep on his shoulder during the walk.

They got into the Entrance Hall just as dinner was about to start, and so it was packed with students. "Hey, Professor, where've you been?" somebody called.

"That your daughter?"

"Why'd you miss class?"

"What happened?"

"Enough!" Sam bellowed.

Astra shifted. "I'm hungry, Daddy."

"All right, Astra. We'll go eat, okay? But we need to clean up first."

"Why?" she whined. "I'm hungry _now._ "

"I'm filthy, though." He tickled her side. "Ten minutes, then we can eat."

He wished he could take more time in the shower. He wanted to sit under the near-boiling water until every bit of dirt, both in him and on him, was off. He wanted to break down and cry about Emily. He wanted to let himself be overwhelmed, just for a few minutes.

But his little girl needed him to be strong, so he didn't do anything but scrub his skin with soap until the water ran clear.

He got out and dressed quickly in his spare clothes. "All right, Astra," he said. "Let's go face the school."

The Hall fell silent when they appeared. Sam wondered what his students saw when they looked at him - a father? A teacher? A fighter? - and then decided it didn't matter.

Minerva intercepted him before he reached the High Table. "What happened?" she asked, voice low and worried.

"Emily was killed so a demon could abduct me. Spent the last two days fighting for my life."

"And Astra?"

"She's been at the Ministry the whole time."

"Can we eat now, Daddy?" she piped up.

"Yeah, baby doll," Sam said. "Minerva, please. I haven't eaten since Thursday. Can we talk later?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "My office, after you put Astra to bed."

The talk went about as well as Sam could have hoped for. The next day he found and rented an apartment in Rattray, convincing the landlord to let them move in that very day with a combination of double-rent and a Confundus Charm. Then he took Astra shopping to replace the clothes and toys she'd lost. He had kept very little in the house, he realized; most everything was in the room at Hogwarts. That would have to change, now that he was Astra's only parent.

Before he went to bed that night in an unfamiliar bed, he conjured a thin silver chain and threaded it through Emily's rings. It was a reminder - not only of what he'd lost, but how he'd failed. He wouldn't fail again.

**Author's Note:**

> And there's part 9! We've only got one part left: the apocalypse.
> 
> I'm not sure when I'll be able to update. I still don't know really know how I want to play this; I know how to end it, but getting there is going to be a bit interesting.
> 
> Hope you liked it!


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